Phillies spring straining: A quick word on each of the starting pitchers in camp

Each day this week we will be breaking down the spring training roster position-by-position as we prepare for the official reporting date, which is a week from Wednesday. In today's Daily News, we looked at the projected rotation for the 2013 season and why it probably isn't very realistic to expect a drastic improvement over last season (mostly because the unit was better in 2012 than conventional wisdom suggests).

Phillies spring straining: A quick word on each of the starting pitchers in camp

David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer

Posted:
Tuesday, February 5, 2013, 9:27 AM

Each day this week we will be breaking down the spring training roster position-by-position as we prepare for the official reporting date, which is a week from Wednesday. In today's Daily News, we looked at the projected rotation for the 2013 season and why it probably isn't very realistic to expect a drastic improvement over last season (mostly because the unit was better in 2012 than conventional wisdom suggests).

NAMES TO KNOW: LHP AdamMorgan and RHP JonPettibone are the two minor leaguers most likely to get a look this season. Non-roster invitees RHP Rodrigo Lopez and RHP Aaron Cook are veterans with major league experience, but both are coming off uninspiring campaigns. Zach Miner, a 30-year-old lefty, also has major league experience, but has not pitched in the big since 2009 and has a 4.85 ERA in 35 career starts. So Morgan and Pettibone will enter spring training with chances to earn themselves serious considerations should the Phillies need an extra arm in 2013. But 26-year-old righty Tyler Cloyd, who had 3 impressive starts and 3 lackluster ones after being promoted from Triple-A Lehigh Valley in August, could be the first man up.

OTHERS IN CAMP: Cesar Jimenez, a 28-year-old lefty non roster invitee, started 3 games for the Mariners from 2006-08 and worked 8 games in relief in 2011. He has pitched exclusively as a reliever the past two seasons. RHP Ethan Martin is another young pitcher on the 40-man roster who will be in camp with an opportunity to earn himself big league consideration down the road. MLB.com had Martin ranked on its Top 100 prospects in the game, but that is probably a bit ambitious. He has a big frame with a big fastball but needs to work on his consistency and his curveball and is pretty old to be still needing significant work on those things. That being said, he is definitely somebody to watch this spring.

By my count, there will be 11 or 12 starting pitchers in camp, depending on the role a couple of guys slot into.